Disclaimer: not mine

Hope you're all enjoying this.

Chapter 2

Kal smiled politely as he circulated the party. He honestly hated having to host them, though the traders were a welcome addition. News from other worlds could be sparse with how insular some wanted Krypton to be. And perhaps there would be something interesting among their wares that Lois or Jon might enjoy.

He couldn't even slip away like Kon, not that he begrudged him the chance to. Not when so many of their own people looked down on him, many making comments where Kon could hear them. Yes, he had been wary of the boy when he'd first found his Father's lab and the pod there, Kon floating inside. His Father had been dead for years, if Kal hadn't found the pod, would Kon have remained sleeping within it forever? Some would call waking him insane, but Kal hadn't been able to leave him there. At least Jor-El had ensured he had received an education so that he wasn't having to be taught everything, mentally a child when physically almost an adult. That would have been…well, it was probably why he'd been imprinted with knowledge.

It was almost an hour before Kon slipped back in, and Kal frowned, he looked…disturbed? But before he could go and ask, the traders began offering their wares for sale. He watched as the cargo was listed, various people chatting about things they wished to purchase, and realised Kon was paying a lot of attention. He wouldn't be surprised if his son had snuck aboard to look around. If there was something he wanted, then of course he could have it. Spotting him watching, Kon made his way to his side.

"Something you want to buy?" Kal asked softly.

Kon bit his lip, hesitating. "They have…living cargo." That wasn't unusual.

And then the images were displayed, they looked a lot like Kryptonians, just lacking any body hair, their eyes were dull, no spark of life or awareness, faces blank. He listened carefully to the explanation, specially bred slaves with no ability to think, they simply followed commands. Which meant they weren't illegal to sell. An image flashed up and Kon tensed slightly. Kal wondered what about that one had gained his attention but if Kon was interested then he would give his son what he wanted. So Kal purchased several of them, the one Kon was interested in among them.

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Dick hugged his Little Wing tight, feeling the tension in Jason's form, but ever so slowly it drained away, arms coming up to wrap around Dick in return. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I wasn't here when you needed me."

He'd failed two little brothers now. Jason had returned, did he dare ask for another miracle?

"You weren't even on planet Dick, never blamed you," Jason muttered.

That wouldn't stop him from blaming himself.

"So…missing kids huh?"

"Yeah, we've contacted Oa, I reached out to Kori too. We haven't heard anything yet but…ten thousand human kids probably isn't going to be high on their list of catastrophes."

"And one of them is…"

"Tim," Dick whispered, "yeah." He took a shaky breath, pulling back to look up at his little brother. "You'd love him Jay, he's a good kid. You're the whole reason he became Robin."

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"Me?" Jason asked in confusion, fighting back the rage at the talk of his replacement, he'd been the one to bring him up after all.

"Yep," Dick offered a watery grin. "I might have been the one he used to work out our id's, when he was nine! But you were his Robin, he used to follow you and B on patrol, he's got hundreds of photos. After you…well, he saw how things were going, tracked me down and told me to be Robin again, I refused. So, he went to Alfred and confronted Bruce with his evidence. I don't know everything that went down between them but pretty sure blackmail was involved. He wasn't looking to become Robin, he just wanted Bruce to stop spiralling into self-destruction."

Huh…none of that lined up at with what he'd been told. How many other lies had he swallowed? "And Bruce just accepted him?"

"No, it was…rocky. Bruce didn't want another Robin, could barely stand to look at him in or out of the suit. And Tim changed it, I think it part to try and make it easier on Bruce, added the pants and shifted the colours. And Bruce…you wouldn't have recognised him then Jay, the way he treated Tim and the kid just kept coming back. What finally knocked sense into Bruce…he broke Tim's arm."

Jason felt the blood drain from his face, the green anger freezing in his veins. "What?" he forced the question out.

"It wasn't intentional! It was a training accident, Tim slipped and Bruce's reflexes were bad enough at the time that he couldn't pull the blow in time. Tim…he barely flinched from what I saw in the footage later. He covered it up with everyone as a skateboarding accident but after that, Bruce started doing a bit better. Then he sent Tim away, overseas, for training. Kid came back an inch taller and using a bō like it was an extension of himself."

Bruce had sent the kid overseas; had he been worried about hurting him again? B had handled all of Jason's training himself unless Dick was around and offered. So much for all of the intel he'd been given on Tim being the beloved golden boy replacement. Poor kid, he knew how hard Bruce could hit, he'd never hit him, but he'd seen the damage. And to barely flinch… "How long did it take for B to adopt him?"

"He didn't. The Drakes were alive, we should have looked into it more," Dick admitted. "He lived next door all his life and we never… as far as we know, they never hit him, but neglect can be just as bad. They were always overseas on digs, living their dreams…and Tim was left behind with nannies, then just a housekeeper who came twice a week. There was a series of boarding schools too. Then they got taken and his mom died, his dad was in a coma, so Brice stepped in to foster him. No one questioned it since they're neighbours and B's a registered foster. But then Jack Drake woke up and Tim had to go back, thankfully not back to boarding school but…there was tension. Tim was happy he was awake and alive but there was something off and we were working on trying to get Tim to open up and now…" Dick's hands clenched into fists.

Well, that explained how the kid could sneak out to follow them around. Maybe…Red Hood should pop in and visit Jack Drake, see what was going on there.

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Curiously, Kon stroked a smooth cheek, ignoring the kind of creepy empty gaze. He hadn't meant for Kal to buy him! But now that he owned him, he wasn't sure what he was meant to do with owning a slave. The sellers said he wasn't sapient or anything, but Kon wasn't so sure. There'd no response when Kon tried to get him to squeeze his hand but he was sure he'd seen a spark of something.

It was his property now, he could do anything he wanted, but he didn't know what to do with him, it? He'd been given care instructions at least, and he couldn't take it planet side without precautions in place since it had been bred in a lower gravity environment. The gravity and atmosphere of Krypton would kill him. Kon didn't know what Kal was doing with the others he'd bought but this one was his.

He didn't have a name, just a product number. He supposed that made sense, if he was bred to be sold, then what was the point to a name? Much easier to give product a number and if that hold had been full, then they sold a lot. How much must it cost to breed them like that? Accelerated growth maybe? Still E3765089G was a mouthful.

Kon ran his hand over the top of the bare head but…he could just feel the barest start of stubble, so not naturally hairless? Maybe they were kept like that for easier care? Kon was taller than…E3? EG? He'd have to think about that.

Kon picked up the pile of cloth and handed it over. "Get changed," he ordered, and E3 stripped out of the grey cloth right in front of him. Yep, definitely male unless his species had very different makeups. The cloth was soft but durable, a dark blue with the crest of the House of El on the shoulder to ensure he was recognised as their…property.

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Tim obediently stripped off and put on the new cloths without hesitation. The voice vaguely registered, only one, different…but that was it. He was unaware of his nakedness before a stranger, something that would have had him very nervous, Tim wasn't body shy after years of being Robin and changing in the Cave or with his team, but that was around his fellow vigilantes and heroes. The softness of the new cloth didn't register as he stood, waiting for further orders.

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Bruce sat on Tim's bed, there wasn't much in the room to mark it as belonging to someone. Tim had always been so reluctant to be a burden and Bruce had never known how to make him see that he was truly wanted after those rocky early months. He had never forgiven himself for the accident that had left Tim with a broken arm, had sent him away to keep him safe.

Finding out on his return who had trained him…well, that had been a shock but it had done Tim good, he'd come so far in those months. He'd stood his ground against Lady Shiva herself in his refusal to use lethal force, had chosen the bō because of that. His mind…Bruce knew that Tim would surpass him as a detective one day, maybe one day soon. And that was a concern…what if one of their enemies recognised Tim and took him for what he knew? He doubted they'd be gentle. Even if they did find him, would he still be their Tim?

If…when they found him, Tim was coming home. Jack Drake had been arrested for charges that were long overdue. Without Janet's money and influence, with the company gone, he'd had no protection. He'd been investigated, all the families had been, to make sure no one had been working with the kidnappers. It was far too late to really help Tim but it meant there was no one to argue when Bruce had filed adoption paperwork, Tim would come home as a Wayne.

They'd finally received word from Oa, Hal was returning to get more information and then they would alert every Lantern. But it didn't seem like they'd be running an official search for the children and that made Bruce angry. They were meant to be some kind of galactic police force, how could the lives of so many children mean so little to them?

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"You bought Kon a slave?" Lois stared at her beloved husband, one eyebrow raised, and Kal sighed.

"He shows so little interest in things, but this, this caught his attention. I don't know why, a lab grown being with no intellect, I would have thought would be too close for comfort," he admitted, and she frowned.

That was a good point. If Jor-El had made the slightest error, Kon could be like those Kal had purchased. He was also right about Kon, the boy she had taken in with open arms was very closed off from anyone not of their House. Even within the family, it was mainly them and Jon he interacted freely with. He had a brilliant mind but no drive to use it. He was…drifting. They'd tried exposing him to as much as they could but so far nothing had caught his interest.

"You're sure about this?"

"Honestly? No. But I want Kon to be happy."

"I know," she agreed, leaning against his side. "We haven't dealt with those traders before though, maybe…send one of them to Zor-El for safety."

Kal nodded in agreement. Good, Zor-El would test them, make sure the traders had been truthful and ensure they carried no dangerous diseases.

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Diana sighed and set her work aside, unable to focus. It had been almost six months since the children had been taken, the young Robin among them. Hal was due back tomorrow and she prayed that he would be able to find them. No one deserved the fate that likely awaited the children…if they were still alive. No, there was no point taking them only to kill them.

She missed young Tim, he was such a bright young man, very different to his predecessors but that wasn't a bad thing. It had hurt at first, to have someone where Jason had been, but she had also been glad that Bruce had someone else with him. He tended to be very obsessive and bad at caring for himself. Having seen Tim bully the man into eating an actual meal had been heart-warming and very amusing.

She had prayed for his protection, for all of the stolen children, but what could the gods of Earth do for him? There were so few circumstances where her powers could not help, and sadly this was one of them.

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Bernard, E3765086G, sat on the bench, staring vacantly but obediently lifting his arm when told to. Unlike Tim, he was utterly blank, the virus having worked totally on him. He didn't react as blood and tissue were taken for testing. He moved to a machine and was scanned from head to toe. E3764381M and E37629843L were also within the lab being tested.

Zor-El didn't know that the different letters represented the locations they had been taken from. At the moment, all he really saw was specimens to be examined and learnt from.

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Dick slipped silently into the townhouse, not that there was anyone there to hear him. Nightwing investigating the Drake household might raise some eyebrows though, given how long it'd been since the kids had been taken. Jack Drake was in jail, his girlfriend, Dana, had moved away after he was sentenced, she'd seemed so shock by how neglectful he'd been of Tim. But the house was untouched since Bruce had locked it as part of Tim's inheritance, added it to his trust fund. After all, Tim legally couldn't be pronounced dead for seven years without a body so Bruce was in control of his things as his adoptive parent. Dick wondered how much it'd cost to get that pushed through.

He made his way to Tim's room, looking around at the posters and photos, seeing his skateboard in a corner. It looked lived in yes, but it was almost a staged lived in. Was there anywhere that Tim just existed in as himself rather than trying to live to others' expectations?

He paused in front of a photo of Tim and Bruce from when he'd been fostered, seeing the shy smile on Tim's face. He wanted his baby brother, his baby bird, back. Kori had contacted him; she'd reached out to what contacts she had off-world but had yet to hear back. And, if they were smart and broke the kids up, no one might notice smaller groups of human children. They might not even know what species the kids were since apparently there were others out there that mostly looked the same as them, at least on the outside.

Dick went around, collecting photos and a few other items before slipping away as silently as he'd arrived. When he got back to Wayne Manor, he set the things up in Tim's room, except for the photo of Tim and Bruce which he snuck into Bruce's office. He then got the new bedding and set it up on the bed, smiling when the room now looked more like a teenagers bedroom, when they got Tim back, he hoped it would be comforting to him.

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Kara looked at her Father's results, understanding why he wanted someone else to look them over. She paled slightly as she took in exactly what they could mean for her family. This…was not good, not for Kon and not for the three figures sitting blankly across the lab.

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E3 set the plate on the table in front of Kon. Unsure what to do with him now that he owned him, Kon had basically turned him into domestic help. The faint stubble had continued to grow into very short black hair. The hair and eye colour, he could almost be a member of their family if his skin wasn't so pale, though the blue of his eyes wasn't as bright as theirs either.

There'd been no more signs that Kon had spotted that there was more to E3 than the sellers had said. Maybe he'd been seeing things that day. But…he didn't regret owning him. They were both lab-grown for specific purposes. Kon didn't know the purpose behind his creation but he had grown into his own person, maybe one day E3 could too.

He touched the back of E3's hand, if there was any awareness then kind contact would be good. Who knew what was done to him in the lab he was made in, but it probably wasn't nice. And…he liked touching him.

It was strange, he had no personality or anything, couldn't speak, but he could learn. He only had to perform a task once to be able to do it again. Apparently, they were made to be adaptable, to become what their owner wanted them to be. What did he want E3 to be?

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"Did Dad really buy you a person?" Jon scrunched his face up. That sounded…weird, wrong.

"Not a person, a lab made being. E3 can't think or anything, he just follows orders," his big brother explained.

"So not like you." He'd only been a baby when they'd found Kon so he didn't remember.

"No kiddo, not like me," Kon agreed, but he sounded weird.

Jon stared at him; arms crossed. "You want him to be though."

Kon blinked at him, looking surprised but then he reached out to ruffle Jon's hair, making him shove at Kon's hand.

"Hey!"

"Don't you have studies to be doing?"

"Got bored," he shrugged. "Can I see him?"

"Alright, come on," Kon offered his hand and Jon took it, following him to Kon's part of the estate. He got to live kind of separately because he was almost an adult.

Inside, Jon spotted a boy about Kon's age maybe? He had short black hair and pale skin, and he had blue eyes…but they were creepy. Jon walked over and looked up at him, seeing their House crest on his shoulder. "Hi E3."

"He can't talk," Kon told him.

"Why not? Can you teach him?" Jon asked, and Kon looked surprised again.

"I…don't know, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try."

Jon grinned at his brother. Of course, Kon would try, just like he helped Jon if he got stuck in his studies.

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Kal frowned as he listened to Kara's message, inviting the family over. There was something…like she was trying to avoid anyone knowing why she was really calling…which meant it was likely to do with the three slaves he'd sent for testing. But why hide the results?

"I'll stay with Jon, you and Kon go," Lois told him, looking concerned.

"Alright," he agreed and then kissed her softly. He headed to collect Kon and then they left for Zor-El's lab compound, Kara meeting them happily at the door, eyes flicking to where E3 stood behind Kon.

As soon as they were inside and the place locked up, anti-surveillance devices active, she slumped slightly.

"Mind if we run the tests on him too?" She asked Kon as they walked to the main lab.

"Alright," Kon agreed, watching as they drew blood and tissue from E3.

"Uncle," Kal greeted when the older male emerged, getting a tired smile from the man.

"Kal. Kon," he greeted them. "I'm glad you came so quickly. We have the test results from the three subjects you sent. I assume the results from this one will be the same."

"And those are?" Kal asked warily.

Zor looked at Kon who stiffened. "They share genetic similarities to you, Kon."

TBC…